By Olke Uhlenbeck's account, the society spawned from a group of scientists studying RNA processing which first grew from a meeting at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1974 and held annual meetings at Cold Spring Harbor starting in 1982.

[3] The society was formed for tax reasons following a surplus of money from a 1992 RNA processing meeting in Boulder, Colorado.

The first president was Tom Cech, Joan Steitz was the first vice-president and president-"elect", Chris Greer was the first CEO, and Uhlenbeck was the first secretary/treasurer.

In 2005, after more than 20 years of the society's existence, John Abelson deemed it a big success through its unique journal and annual meeting styles.

[4] The RNA Society is governed by an elected board of directors and a president, as well as an unelected CEO and CFO.